The Sirdar Vineyard

The Sirdar vineyard is located 4 mi. north of Wynndel and sits just above Duck Lake on it's east shore. The elevation of the vineyard is 1,755ft. to 1,870ft. above sea level. The site slopes south to southwest. This site has about 11 acres planted.

The vineyard sits in the Kootenay River Valley, about 30 mi. from the Columbia River. The climate is influenced by a strong Pacific flow. The annual precipitation is 22". The winters are cloudy and relatively tempered for being this far inland. The winter minimum has not dropped below -19C since we have been monitoring it. The springs are slow to warm, but quite frost free. Our growing season is about 170 days. The summers are warm but not overly hot. This site would get very few days over 37C. Because of our latitude (49 degrees N) and long days we regain ten days of growing time compared with Napa,Ca. The growing degree days for this site are 1,200 hrs. based on the Celsius scale. The average budbreak is April 26 and the average harvest date would be from early Oct. for whites and around Oct. 16 for pinot noir.

The soils range from a sand/clay to gravely decomposed granite. The soil has excellent drainage, and has high minerality, with calcium, manganese, magnesium, and iron being at their maximum level. The soil has good water retention. There is no irrigation after the 2nd. year of the vines age. The yields are very low and have been around 1.5 tons per acre.

The vines are planted in a south to southwest orientation. The row spacings are 7ft. and the vine spacing at 3ft. The fruiting wire is at 24".

Pinot noir are clones 777, 667, 114, and 115. The root stock are own rooted and 3309.